EP 2 284 540 A1 discloses a method to diagnose organ failure. This failure might be inflammation related (sepsis). The method describes the use of a quantitative metabolomics profile and compares results with a quantitative reference metabolomics profile of a certain amount of endogenous metabolites. The idea behind this seems to detect organ failure due to infection/sepsis. In the application here is nothing said about transplantation, rejection and its pattern in saliva.
The present invention, however, discloses a method to detect and diagnose early inflammation. The method describes the use of qualitative metabolomics profile and compares results with a quantitative reference. The idea behind seems to detect early inflammatory responses in sense of detection of activation of the innate immune response. This activation is unique found in several diseases especially in the beginning. It is a reaction on either pathogens or molecules called alarmins and is leading to an activation of the inflammasome. The next step is the activation of the adaptive immune response at least 6 to 7 days later.
The human body recognizes elements implanted within the body as not compatible when the implants are not derived from the same body. Therefore, the compatibility of the foreign implant and the recipient has to be carefully examined and potential rejection actions have to be carefully monitored. When solid organs like heart, liver, lung, pancreas or kidney are transplanted the rejection actions of the recipient body are usually downregulated by suitable treatment with medicaments. The undesired side effect is, however, that the downregulation of the body's response against the transplant frequently causes simultaneously a downregulation of the immune response.
Consequently a patient receiving a transplant has to be very carefully monitored with regard to a potential infection (e.g. bacterial or viral) since such an infection may be deadly to the patient having received a transplant. The complex medical treatment of a person having received a transplant has, however, the undesired side effect that a patient does not realize the early signs of an infection and/or inflammation. The rejection of a transplant may cause an inflammation whereby the early stages are normally not recognized by the patient due to the medical treatment after transplantation. The patient will realize only at a later stage that he or she suffers from an inflammation which has, however, the undesired consequence that it may be too late to start with a suitable treatment of the patient in order to avoid the rejection of the transplant. Therefore, there is a need for a simple and reliable in vitro method for the early detection of a potential inflammation, in particular the detection of a potential rejection of a transplanted organ.